


Magical Mishap

by Aelaer



Series: Tumblr Prompt Fills [5]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: (and the rest aren't relevant), Animals, Banter, Gen, Humor, Magic, Magical Accidents, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Originally Posted on Tumblr, POV Tony Stark, Silly, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:07:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23226043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aelaer/pseuds/Aelaer
Summary: I’m going to kill you, Stephen Strange’s furious voice blast through his head and wow, that was weird.Tony opened his mouth automatically to retort, but all that came out was this weird chirp-like sound.(Or: Tony touches something he really shouldn't have. Shenanigans ensue.)
Relationships: Tony Stark & Stephen Strange
Series: Tumblr Prompt Fills [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1479815
Comments: 17
Kudos: 59





	Magical Mishap

**Author's Note:**

> Original prompt via anonymous:  
>  _Animal au! (Can be shifter etc): Tony is a ferret (or tiger), Stephen would be a saltwater crocodile._
> 
> Assume an alternate first meeting between Tony and Stephen in this fic.

_I’m going to kill you_ , Stephen Strange’s furious voice blast through his head and wow, that was weird.

Tony opened his mouth automatically to retort, but all that came out was this weird chirp-like sound. He wrinkled his nose (and he could see it now, that was intriguing) and instead thought towards Stephen. _I thought you had an oath of some sort, Doc._ He’d only met the doctor-turned-wizard a few times, but the killing discussion had come early on (life of a superhero and all).

 _Funny enough_ , Stephen growled—as in, he was thinking at him and actually growled, deep and low and it was the most fucking terrifying thing he had ever heard— _it’s very hard to remember my oath when my mind’s being slammed by the instincts of a goddamn alligator smelling the fresh meat of a rodent!_

 _Crocodile_ , Tony thought back at him as he scurried up the table leg and well out of reach of Stephen’s incredibly horrific line of teeth. _And ferrets are part of the weasel family._

Stephen growled at him again and Tony’s little ferret heart started thumping in instinctive terror. _I told you not to touch anything! Anything!_ came from the sorcerer-turned-crocodile.

 _I didn’t know that included the books!_ he shot back.

 _It included the books!_ The croc snapped his teeth, then he heard Stephen sigh in his head. _I don’t know when Wong or anyone will happen upon my study again, and frankly put, I’m not sure how long we can wait before animal instincts override proper thought and I decide just to eat you. We need to reverse this now._

Tony looked around from the table for a good shelf to jump to. _I could just remain out of reach until someone comes around; that shelf’s rather high._ Could ferrets make that jump? He had no idea, but it was worth a shot. He was feeling rather jittery and it looked like a fun jump.

 _Not willing to take that risk_ , was Stephen’s terse answer. _Here, we can do this. Can you still read?_

He looked around the desk until he found something in English. _Seems so._ His glasses connected to FRIDAY were on the ground with the rest of his clothes. At least they were still intact; Stephen’s normal clothes were completely destroyed, and the Cloak was curled up by a hearth near the foyer and nowhere near this room. Maybe it could have helped.

He wondered what FRIDAY was seeing. Was FRIDAY alerting anyone? The only person Tony had any phone number info for in this weird group was Stephen at this time, and that had been a hard enough nut to crack. Still, after this he would make it a point to get Wong’s number.

That shelf looked really interesting. He wanted to jump to it.

 _Tony Stark!_ rang loudly through his head and he blinked and peered at the reptile.

 _No need to shout_ , he grumbled.

 _I called you three times_ , was Stephen’s answer. _I need you to concentrate and try to remain in the human part of you. What is the page number in the book you just read?_

The page numbers weren’t in an alphabet he knew. He missed FRIDAY. _Uh, it looks like a sideways six and eight._

 _Seventy-four_ , Stephen said. _Okay. Now I need you to shove the book off the table._

It turned out that pushing a four-pound book when one weighed only three pounds was incredibly difficult. Still, he managed it, and the volume went to the floor with a heavy thump.

Stephen somehow managed to turn the book the right side up with his snout, but that’s where his dexterity ended. _I can’t get to the right page. I need you to come down and turn it to the correct page._

His little ferret heart started pounding in fear again. _Are you crazy?_ Tony snapped. _You just said you were fighting against the want to eat me!_

 _And that will only get worse the longer this continues!_ he retorted. _Look, I’ll back away as much as I can._ Stephen, to his credit, did, but there was only so much room a ten-foot crocodile could back up in his study.

Tony sighed in his head. _Yeah, okay. Fine. Don’t move, or I’m going to the shelves to wait for Wong or another one of your wizard buddies._

 _Sorcerers._ Another growl went through the room.

 _Don’t do that, either!_ He scurried off the table and to the book. It turned out that ferret paws were nowhere near as useful for page turning as human hands, but they were a far cry better than what crocs had.

His animal instincts were going absolutely insane with the call of danger as he flipped through the pages as fast as he could. Tony stilled when Stephen shifted, but he didn’t move his feet, so Tony remained on the floor flipping and flipping until he saw the sideways six and eight again.

He fled to the shelves and jumped and scrambled up until he was on top of the bookcase. _Okay, I’m good!_ Tony called down.

Stephen sighed. _You might regret your position._ He walked back to the book.

 _I’m further from the crocodile and I absolutely don’t regret it_ , Tony retorted. It was nice up here. Ooh, could he jump to the table from here? No, wait, that was against what he accomplished climbing up here in the first place. Stupid weasel brain.

 _I don’t think I can say words aloud like this_ , Stephen mused to himself. _I haven’t done silent spellcasting of this sort, but I believe I can manage it._

There was then a heavy silence and in about fifteen seconds Tony began to feel the same weird shift he felt when he was turned into a ferret.

Then he realized just how infuriatingly right Stephen was when his three pound body turned into a 170 pound body and the bookcase was having absolutely none of it. It toppled over, spilling him and all of its books onto the carpet.

“Ow,” Tony moaned.

“I did tell you so,” said the very annoying wizard. 

Tony frowned in his direction, which only increased as he realized something. “Hey, how come you have clothes on already? I thought they were all ruined, Hulk-style.” He started pushing the books aside to see if his clothes managed to avoid the bookcase, at least.

“Magic,” was the very annoying answer, but Stephen did magic the bookcase back into its position so Tony didn’t have to pull it up, at least. “Oh, found your glasses.”

“Gimme,” he gestured, and they were floated over. “You there, FRIDAY?” he asked.

“I’m here, boss.”

“See the whole thing?”

“Yes, boss. I’m afraid I had no sort of protocol for dealing with this sort of situation. Should I have called one of the Avengers?”

Tony found his clothing after several more books were moved by he and Stephen. “Uh, no, no, you were right to wait to assess the situation for a few minutes.” He shimmied on his boxers, then pants as Stephen politely pretended he didn’t exist, public locker-room style, as he sent all his books back to the fallen shelves in whatever categorization he had going. “Next time, we’re gonna have a phone number of another wizard—”

“Sorcerer.”

“—sorcerer to call in case of magical mishap.” He shot a look at Stephen. “Seriously, in case you do more work with us beyond this consulting you’ve agreed to, we’d want a number in case you’re hurt, anyway.”

Stephen sighed, but acquiesced with, “Fine. I’ll see if Wong agrees to it.”

Tony nodded and pulled his shirt over his head. “Oh, and FRI, delete all footage of the incident.” No one needed to see him like that. Especially that ending.

“Yes boss.”

Stephen frowned at him. “You’re recording?”

“I record everything with these glasses.”

The frown deepened. “Don’t expect it to work in here for all future visits.”

Tony now frowned. “I can stop it when you ask. There’s no need to be an asshole about it.”

“And you didn’t need to be a douchebag who secretly records things,” Stephen retorted lightly, still sorting his books.

“My glasses aren’t very secretive. You’ve heard me talk at FRIDAY before.” He sat down and pulled on his socks, then shoes. “I figured you knew.”

“People don’t normally record their whole life.”

“Have you never been on YouTube or something?”

Stephen sighed. “You’re really irritating.”

“That makes two of us,” Tony retorted, but he threw the wizard—sorcerer—a bone. “I’ll cut the recording. There, done.” He leaned back in the seat. “And I won’t look inside any books anymore. Lesson learned.”

Another sigh, but Stephen stacked the remaining books that needed sorting in a pile (with magic, of course) and took a seat at his desk, across from where Tony sat. “I’m tempted to never let you in here again, if this is how visits are going to be.” But he was summoning some sort of drink, two cups, and actions spoke louder than words in Tony’s world.

“I’ll be better behaved next time,” he replied, tone overly serious. “But moving on: like I told you, I found something that I think is more in your field than mine.”

As he gave Stephen the small puzzle box with weird energy vibes, and saw the man’s face light up in fascination and intense concentration, Tony figured that despite their differences (and similarities), that he could, in the end, potentially really get along with Stephen Strange.

**Author's Note:**

> This was the oldest fic prompt I had in my ask box when I wrote it earlier this year. I didn't think I could do a serious take on it, so silly/fun was how it went.
> 
> For anyone remotely interested, the book's written in Sanskrit. Sanskrit largely uses the Devanāgarī alphabet. And 74 looks like a sideways 6 and 8. #the more you know
> 
> Reviews appreciated, as always :)


End file.
